Magical Girl Avenger Nanoha: ThanoS
by TitanicAngel
Summary: When a Dimensional Quake interrupts a Patrol Mission, Fate T. Harlaown finds herself face-to-face with a Genocidal Tyrannic know as Thanos who has a single goal: Kill Half of the Universe in a snap of his fingers. Now, in a race against time, Fate has to found and seal six powerful Lost Logias know as the Infinity Stones — before the Mad Titan finds them first.
1. The One Who Seeks Power

**Chapter**** One ― He That Thirst for Power**

Fate Testarossa Harlaown was one of the strongest Enforcers in her generation.

It wasn't something that she had pride of, but it was unnecessary, because of her reputation; she had an S+ Rank, was an Artificial Mage (a clone of a mage with their memories and appearance) was personally involved in three different Incidents ― the Jewel Seeds, The Book of Darkness and the most recent, the Jail Scaglietti Incident ―, and survived every single one of them, captured one of the most dangerous and wanted criminals in the Time-Space Administration Bureau story and completed numerous missions as an enforcer. There was nobody in the whole TSAB who didn't know who she was. And, for as better as these sounded for someone who sought the fame, it was extremely uncomfortable for Fate, who was an introvert in heart, to be the center of attention. It was one of the reasons why she loved being away from the headquarters so much, being in one of the ships or her house, her position in her work field didn't matter in these places, where she was only Fate, a twenty-year-old woman that liked flying, had a seven-year-old child and spent most of her free time with her girlfriend, Nanoha.

But regardless of what she thought of herself, she knew that nothing she said would change the way that the rest of the Bureau saw her. It was one of the reasons that she hated changing ships in her missions, which was exactly what was happening. She wasn't even able to pass through her first hour in the _Asteria_ before she was in the center of the attention of every single recruit in the ship. It wasn't just the rookies, but some veterans that heard of what she did were instantly drawn to her, questioning her about the missions that she did, about the Incidents and making her feel like an animal in the middle of a zoo more than she felt like a true person. People would think that she was already accustomed to it, but in reality, it didn't matter how much it repeated, she could never feel comfortable in the spotlight. So it was a surprise even to herself when she showed up in the bridge at the start of her shift in the fifth day within the _Asteria_. The first one to notice her was the commander of the ship, Captain Garnier, who stopped what was doing to smile at her, which Fate returned, making her let some of her stress go.

She knew Garnier for some time, as he was part of one of the classes that Nanoha trained, which in itself meant that he had some restraint in dealing with her - there was little that those who trained under Nanoha feared more than their former trainer's wrath, and nothing would make her madder than some offense against her girlfriend or daughter - and, to add to this, he had respect for her because of some missions that they did together when he wasn't a captain. Fate walked through the bridge ignoring the stares directed at her, going directly to the captain's side. Being an Enforcer in duty aboard a ship, Fate had a lot of influence in it, making her as important as the captain himself. Because it was just a patrol mission, she was the only Enforcer aboard the _Asteria_ and having a lot of responsibilities and duties that had been neglected ever since her identity had been revealed to the newcomers, Fate knew that there wasn't any time to waste.

"It's good to see that you didn't forget about me, Fate," Garnier said with a huge smile on his face. Some of the others in the bridge stopped to see their conversation.

"How could I? Nanoha tells me so much of her students that I suppose that even Vivio knows all about you guys." She said, doing a small smirk to hide the nervousness that was spreading through her.

"Well, I would be surprised if Nanoha _didn't_ tell you about us." The captain said with a small smile on his lips, maybe thinking about what the brunette would do if she heard their conversation.

"She has a tendency to start rambling when she's talking about her job. But, regardless of how much I like to talk about Nanoha, that's not the reason that I'm here." Fate said, really glad about how Garnier was acting as if he knew about how she was feeling. She was a little suspicious that the captain's instructor had some touch in the way he was acting around her, but she was happy regardless. "What's the situation of the ship?"

"All of the systems are working as they should, the Arc-En-Ciel is disabled for the routine scans, and all of the sensors are in normal conditions. As I said before, Executive Officer Fate, there aren't any problems with the _Asteria_. We are only on a simple patrol, there wasn't a reason for you to be here." The second-in-command, 2nd Lieutenant Harley Ross, said with her eyes glued to a tablet. She was part of the members of the Bureau that weren't comfortable with the power that Enforcers have. Fate simply ignored the malice of her voice, already accustomed to those who didn't like her because of her job. That was the price of being part of the "elite" within the TSAB's personnel.

"I'm not responsible for the Bureau's code regarding the crew within a cruise, Third Captain, but there is always a way that a patrol could turn into an emergency, principally when we are out of the TSAB's administered space." Fate said, looking in one of the computers in the center of the bridge. "That's the reason why all ships need to have all the systems ready at all times."

"Enforcers aren't very versatile in a dimensional or space fight between ships, are they?" Harley said now staring at the blonde, clearly losing patience at being in this discussion. Some of the personnel at the bridge were listening to the discussion that was occurring.

"But we are in planet-based incidents. This is also the reason why we have instantaneous interdimensional teleportation in every ship. I do not have to tell you what's your responsibilities as part of the military, do I?" Fate questioned, already waiting for the outburst that would come out of the woman's mouth.

"Listen here, you-" The speech was interrupted by a sudden lurch, instantly activating the alarms in the ship and knocking to the ground those who are standing.

"What was that?" Garnier exclaimed, alarmed.

"A Dimensional Quake, captain!" One of the officials informed, his voice trembling with clear desperation. The other members of the crew were already working to see what happened.

"Full report, now. I want to know where did it came from, how and what did it." The captain said, his voice firm. The shouts of 'Yes, captain!' signalized the fulfillment of the orders. Fate, anxious because of the events, walked to the nearest station, analyzing the panel that displayed the info of the ship and the exterior of it.

"The ship is in working order, captain. But we had fallen out of the dimensional space because of the Dimensional Quake. We're out of administered space and it seems like the Quake's point of origin is still emitting energy."

"Where did it came from?"

"Seven light-years from here." Fate said, her eyes closed to a radar. "It came from the unadministered planet #174, local name: Xandar. It seems that whatever caused the Quake seems to have been emitting a class S energy signal."

"Class S? It's impossible. The only thing that could emit a signal of this magnitude…"

"Would be a Lost Logia" Harley completed the captain, her voice shaking with some time of emotion that Fate couldn't recognize. "But the only registered Lost Logias with the capacity of having this class of power are the Jewel Seeds and the Book of Darkness."

"Which means that we're in hands another Incident." The captain cursed under his breath, standing and yelling orders. "Send a message to the Bureau's Headquarters and inform them that we're going after a possible Class S Lost Logia or higher. Mark a curse to the unadministered planet and prepare to enter the Dimensional Space."

"Yes, captain!" The crew shouted, the bridge moving in a frenetic notion of tasks being made at the same time. Garnier listened to steps approaching and took a deep breath, turning to the red-eyed girl walking to him, his mind already knowing that she would try to do something reckless.

"Captain." Fate said, face serious and her hands in fists. "I request the use of the Dimensional Transport to go to the planet before the ship enters the imaginary space."

"Look, I know that you're preoccupied, but we both know that entering an unchecked Incident without support in an unknown location is suicide." He tried to rationalize, but the look in the blonde's face made him sigh. "Fate…"

"I have twelve years of experience with this type of situations and we both know that even if the _Asteria_ go to the planet at the highest speed in the Dimensional Space, we have a very good chance that we're gonna lose the Lost Logia's position and possible owner if they have the common sense to flee from the planet and uses any magic to hide their location. We have this one chance to ambush the one who is using a high dangerous item that could destroy an entire planet if unchecked and the only one aboard this ship with the capacity, power, and experience to stand ground against a Lost Logia it's _me_. So or you permit me to go or I will have to go against your will and active the spell with my own mana supplies. What will it be, Garnier?" She stared at the captain, her eyes shining with a mischief light, clearly daring the captain to negate her offer.

"Fate…" The captain pleaded again but was interrupted not by Fate, but another one of the crew members.

"Let her go, Captain." Surprisingly, Harley was the one who said this, her posture demonstrating some tiredness that wasn't present before. "As your first officer, I give her my consent. But I will let something clear to you, _Enforcer_. If you came back without essential information and, for some reason, you let this ship in any danger, you will have to fight against me." The woman stared at the blonde, her brown eyes with a resolve of letting her threats true. Fate only corresponded to the stare with a nod; Bardiche glowing before the Barrier Jacket appeared in her body, the white cape falling against her back, her right hand holding tightly Bardiche's Assault Form.

"Captain! We're ready to enter the Dimensional Space, motors are in full capacity and shields are in maximum operation!"

"Understood. Prepare to enter the DS and the max speed at the moment that we're out of the normal Space. And activate a Dimensional Transportation Spell to the Unadministered Planet #174;" He turned at the Enforcer, who nodded in his direction. "Fate, I'll not try to keep you here, but please refrain from having any emotional explosions. Your mission is to maintain ground against the Lost Logia until the arrival of the _Asteria_, nothing more, nothing less, understood?"

"Yes, Captain." Was the only response that she gave before entering the Teleporter.

* * *

The skies above the Xandar Capital were infested of ships.

It was the first thing that Fate saw when she arrived at the planet, having to instinctively flee from the shots that were flying through the atmosphere. She flew from the ships that were shooting at each other, clearly in the middle of a planetary battle. While the Smart Device scanned the planet, Fate rapidly checked the battlefield with her eyes seeing a giant amount of eight-pointed star-based ships flying and shooting against an army of the most varied ships that Fate ever saw in a fleet, all defending a giant mothership that seemed to be firing against the planet surface. With the needed info about the situation, she could assume the status of the battle, which seemed to be on the side of the attackers, the defensive fleet rapidly losing forces against the superiors numbers and firepower of the invading army. The blonde was quick to activate a magical platform and shield spells at her surroundings, her eyes scanning through the battlefield and some yellow bullets appearing at her side, ready to defend Fate from any upcoming attack.

"Bardiche, what's the location of the Lost Logia?" She said deflecting a projectile from one of the invaders' ships and destroying it at the same time that she activated a shield near the ground, saving a ship from the mothership attack, her mind already accustomed to the chaos of a battlefield.

_**It's on the surface of the planet, sir. It seemed to be originating from within a building that used to be the headquarters of the defensive fleet.**_

"Used to be?"

_**The place was destroyed by one of the ships, sir. The Lost Logia is located underground. It's recommended precaution when entering the proximity of the building.**_

"Understood." Fate acknowledged, dismissing her spells and diving toward the ground, quickly avoiding any shots in her way.

Fate smiled at the feel of the wind against her skin throughout her journey to the Lost Logia. Even though the blonde was in a highly dangerous situation, she couldn't ignore the strange feeling of calm in flying again. Although not as passionate about being in the air as Nanoha, Fate passed so much time flying in her early years that she suspected that it had made her feel as if she could not imagine how to live without it. Her thoughts quickly returned to the situation where she was in the moment that she landed in the ruins of the Lost Logia's location. Sighing, she entered the headquarters at a slow pace, looking at her surroundings, trying to find some sort of an entrance to the underground part of the facility. After finding it in some sort of rubble, the blonde descended as quickly as possible, making the least amount of noise possible, when she found herself in some sort of a vault, full of strange items that seemed to have been brutally destroyed and a corridor that seemed to have been attacked by some sort of powerful energy. _Probably the Lost Logia_, she thought as she moved into the depths of the place. _Note to later: Object is able to cause a lot of structural damage in a single outburst._

"Kneel before your lord savior! The all mightier Titan isn't going to wait forever!" A shout echoed through the hall, making Fate rapidly approach another part of the vault and stealthily look from a destroyed wall to the next room.

The place was as destroyed as the last room, glass in the floor and walls cracked with an explosion that appeared to have destroyed the other side of the room, leading to pure rocks and being covered by darkness. The room was filled by corpses, some sliced by what seemed to be a type of sword, some by crashing against rocks and large objects and the others were more likely killed by the explosion that damaged the room. In the center of the room, two humanoids were located. One of which was some sort of an alien species with gray skin and cold eyes, disarmed but seemingly using some sort of power against the other being in the room. This was an old female that resembled a human in her earlier forties, which a vest that was torn apart and had an injury in her head, the blood dripping against her face. There was as well a third figure, the tallest in the room who was in the destroyed half of the vault. He was at least two and a half meters high and was using a full-on golden armor, which covered his purple skin. In his right hand, he had a double-edged sword still red by the blood of the dead, and, in his left hand, he wore a giant gauntlet with a purple gem in one of six containments carved in it.

"Bardiche?" Fate whispered, her eyes locked in the scene beside her. "Are you able to locate the Lost Logia's energy signal?"

**_Affirmative, sir_**. Was the quiet response of her Intelligent Device. **_It seems to be originating from the jewel in the gauntlet of the armored individual. The Lost Logia is active and emanating some class A+ energy. Precaution is advised_**.

Fate cursed under her breath at the confirmation. It wasn't the best situation in a large amount. The ones with the upper hand are clearly part of the invader forces, and with their hands in a Class-S Lost Logia, it seemed like Fate was clearly in a bad situation.

"I will not kneel to a maniac, you fucker. I would rather die." The blonde older woman said, her hand tightly gripping a strange object and her eyes shining with a light of deviance.

"It wasn't a choice." The gray-skinned man said before flicking her wrist. A shout of pain came from the woman and a mysterious force seemed to appear, forcing her to kneel.  
Fate gripped her staff with more strength when the third figure left the shadows, his presence giving the Enforcer a shiver down her spine. The man — which seemed to be referred to as a 'Titan' — dropped to one knee facing the woman, his left hand easily encapsulating the entire head of the older blonde.

"What to do you want, Mad Titan? You already have the Power Stone. Leave Xandar and go destroy another planet, as you're so obsessed with doing." She said, her eyes never leaving the ones of the Lost Logia's holder. The man smiled, but, instead of the maliciously one that Fate expected, it was a gentle one, as if he, somehow, respected the woman at his mercy.

"This isn't a matter of destruction, Nova Prime, but one of preservation. I only search for the balance of the universe." His voice was calm and collected, like the politics in Mid-Childa that Fate was so costumed in seeing, but the tone seemed off in some way.

"Bullshit. You're a maniacal man who thinks that genocide is a blessing. You mutilate your own daughter for your twisted ideal. You are nothing more than a crazy bastard." At the end of her speech, the gray man made a face of rage and seemed close to attacking the woman if it wasn't for a motion of the other man's hand, who stopped him in his advance.

"I'm sorry for your inability to see and comprehend what I saw and understood." The Titan stood up, closing his left hand. At the motion, the Lost Logia glowed in purple light, seemingly charging the power it had. "When I'm done, half of your people will be alive. I hope that this will give your soul some rest."

The woman closed her eyes, accepting her end, her hands closing against the object before the room was filled with a purple light and a ray of pure energy went straight against her. When the light of the strike faded, for the surprise of the present, Nova Prime was still alive, and at her front a young woman dressed in black stood, in her extended hand a yellow magical circle glowed, circling around itself.

"I am Enforcer Fate Testarossa Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. You're under arrest by the authority conceived to me for the crimes of murder, illegal acquisition and use of a Lost Logia, an attack against a planet with the intention of war and supposedly genocide against non-administered planets. You're requested to lay down your weapons, surrender your fleet and hand over the Lost Logia in your possession to the appropriate Bureau personal." Fate recited, her eyes locked in the two men at the room, and her hands tightly gripping Bardiche Assault Form, ready to engage in combat if the need arrives.

"How dare you talk this way to the great Titan! He's under no jurisdiction! He-" the man was cut out by a motion from the tallest in the room who gave a step forward, being received with a hard stare and a change of position from Fate.

"Ebony Maw, stop. Let me handle this." The giant man turned to look at the Enforcer, his eyes calmly analyzing the girl. "Hello, Enforcer Harlaown. My name is Thanos, the last of the Titans." The response of the armored man was calm and collected like he was in complete control of the situation, the tone was like he was talking to an old friend, instead of being under arrest. This made Fate frown her eyes, staring at the Titan with a strange intensity. "I do not acknowledge this Bureau that you speak of, but I confess some of your allegations, as I indeed killed in the process to save the universe. If this is a crime in your eyes, I'm sorry, but I will not let myself be captured without completing my goal first."

Fate knew what he was like. Thanos was like Jail Scaglietti, Fate decided, a man who thought that they had a justified goal and that what they were doing have to be completed, regardless of how many would die or suffer in the process, those who put in practice the old human phrase "The ends justifies the means". It was the worst type of people to fight against, in the blonde's mind, because regardless of what she did, these type of people would never stop until their goal was met or they're dead. And, as Fate knew for experience, death was always the best option, as their dream was so twisted that only thinking about it being realized would make anyone in her circle of friends sick in the stomach.

"Then what's your goal, Thanos? If it is reasonable, the TSAB can do what's necessary for it to occur." She tried to reason again, even though she knew that it was pointless, but the more she let the man talk, the better, as it would give her more time to think in a plan to capture the Lost Logia and stop this maniac.

"A Universal Utopia, that can only be achieved when half the life in the existence is wiped out." Was the response, his voice still calm and collected, as if he wasn't talking about the genocide of all living creatures. Fate felt sick in the stomach, unconsciously remembering what another guy with the same ideal did to an entire planet, her friends and, above all, her daughter.

"This is your dream?" She whispered, her fist grabbing Bardiche with a lot of strength, the calm in her voice disappearing. "Genocide? Kill trillions of people? Men? Women? _Children?_" She was angry, her red eyes shining dangerously. "I'm sorry, _Mad Titan_, but I have friends and a family waiting for me home. _And I will not let a single one of them die!_" Before Thanos could open his mouth — probably to defend his point — a cascade of yellow energy balls flew directly to his direction. Some rubble was thrown in the way of the attacks, destroying it in a second.

"My lord!" Ebony Maw exclaimed when Fate appeared from the smoke, her weapon changed to a scythe with an energized blade made of magical lightning. The attack was stopped by the giant sword, sparks flying from the impact before another rubble was thrown against the blonde. She retreated from close combat against Thanos to raise the _Defenser_ spell, repelling the projectile, that dropped down useless in the ground. An attack from the Titan followed the rubble, the sword almost touching the girl. She dodged the attack, seeing from the corner of her eye a row of projectiles being controlled by Ebony Maw flying in her direction.

"Bardiche, _Plasma Barrett!_" She shouted while changing the _Defenser_ spell to shield herself from Thanos's sword.

_**Yes, sir**_. Multiple arrowhead-like bolts of energy appeared from thin air, circling her, before flying against Ebony. The bolts destroyed the rubble and started to follow the gray-skinned enemy, that resumed thrown everything in the room against the magical projectiles, destroying one by one.

Fate, meanwhile, was deflecting her opponent's continuous attacks. Thanos was skilled in the art of the sword, as shown by his handle of the blade and precise slices against Fate. The blows were heavy and strong, the double-edge making the Titan an opponent with little to no opening, except when it was deflected. If the blonde was someone else, she would be overpowered at the start of the fight, but Fate knew how to fight against a swordsman, mainly because she fought against the best swordswoman in all the universe weekly. Fate blocked the attack with Bardiche Hacken Form, and, in a second, dived under the sword and punched Thanos with her _Plasma Arm_ spell, that enhanced her left hand.

The blow made Thanos flew across the room to a wall. Knowing that she could not have another chance, she turned to Ebony, a magical circle rotating and appearing at her feet, preparing a spell. The man was ready to defend himself but was stopped when energy cuffs appeared in his arms and legs, the _Bind_ spell strong enough to make Fate able to cast a second one.

"_Trident Smasher!_" Bardiche changed form for a moment to make room to a triple-beam bombardment spell that overpowered Ebony in a second, making him fall unconscious before the telekinetic projectile could respond to their master's will. She turned to look at her second opponent, just to see him standing still, his sword cracked by Fate's impacts and the Lost Logia shining in purple light. The Enforcer tensed, changing Bardiche back to Hacken Form and preparing for what would happen next.

"You're stronger than I thought, little one," Thanos said, his eyes locked to the burgundy ones that once upon a time were as blank as the ones in the man's face. "You said that you have a family, didn't you? Tell me about them."

Fate knew that Thanos was buying time. He had an entire army attacking the planet, and if he didn't come back when the battle was over, they would look for him. But Fate had reinforcements as well. If she played Thanos' game, she could buy time for the _Asteria_ to arrive there on time.

"Want to know? Fine. I have a girlfriend, Nanoha, and a daughter, Vivio." She said, her eyes analyzing the picture of the Titan, ready to strike at any sign of aggression. "And we passed from too much for me to give up and let half the population from the entire universe disappear. Do you think you're being merciful? The last person who thought that could change the entire existence tortured _my daughter_ and brainwashed her to _attack her mother_. I was once as lost as you are, Thanos. I thought what I was doing was right, but it was nothing more than a simple illusion, a false belief that corrupted me and made me almost lost everything in my life. But, regardless, I will not let you do what you want, even if I have to give up my own life to make sure your plan fails."

She was responded with silence by the man. Fate didn't care about what he thought. She was saved by Nanoha from a sea of dread and darkness that appeared because of her own mother. She received hope, a new family, and the brightest smile from the most important person in her entire life. She wasn't Alicia, but she would fight as Fate and make sure that everything that she now had would stand as it was. If this man wanted to take it from her than her only choice was to stand ground and fight until she was victorious and he was behind bars. That was the only end that mattered.

"You are different from the others, aren't you?" The Titan said, sighing. "You're one of those who will not see my way, regardless of what I do. You're a mother, and I'm a father. I think that I know what you think. But, unfortunately for us both, I will not stop until I'm done and neither will you." He raised his sword, and closed his left fist, making the gem shine with a violet glow. He was preparing to continue their battle, it seemed. "Goodbye, Fate Testarossa. I hope that you'll still be loved after you're gone."

He attacked in a quick and strong dash, the stab almost impossible to dodge. The blade of the sword forced itself against Bardiche, sparks flying from the continuous impact, making Fate grit her teeth and try to escape the Titan's reach, but in a moment the left hand, powered by the Lost Logia, came directly against Fate's head. The purple light blinded her for a second and the punch thrown her across the room, making her hit a wall with incredible strength and knocking her to the ground. Her breath failed for a second — if she wasn't using her Barrier Jacket, she would be dead — before rolling to the side to evade a stab from the purple man. Bardiche had fallen from her hand during the punch, making her disarmed against a swordsman powered by a Lost Logia. Gritting her teeth again, she stood, raising her arms, powering them with _Thunder Arm_, and assumed a fighting stance. Thanos stopped for a moment, pointing his sword at Fate, a small smile creeping through his face.

"You're more resistant than the others that I fought. There weren't too many people who can withstand a punch enhanced by the Power Stone." He said with respect clear in his voice. Fate, on the other hand, didn't answer until a few seconds later, her eyes shining with determination.

"Stop talking and fight, you megalomaniac." Thanos smiled.

"If you insist."

A stab was directed at her, being deflected by a direct blow by her enhanced fist, blood flying from the direct contact with the blade, and she directed her palm to Thanos, the yellow magic circle shining in her feet, the Titan quickly retreated, making the shot miss him and destroy part of the wall.

Using the dodge as a distraction, she quickly took Bardiche Haken Form from the ground, the electric blade forming in a sparkling response to being again in his master's hand. Ignoring the blood that was falling from her hand, she dashed against Thanos, who deflected the blow with the sword. The Scythe's magic blade was placed against the sword metallic one, and the girl's energized palm was located against the Titan's chest. Fate smiled. Thanos' eyes widened from the realization.

"Got 'ya." Was the phrase that she spoke, being rapidly followed by two shouts, one by herself and the other by her device. "P_lasma Smasher!_"

_**Haken Saber!**_

At the same time that a bombardment spell flew from Fate's hand to Thanos' chest, Bardiche's magical blade was thrown directly against the sword. The explosion from the two spells combined echoed through the room, the smoke curtain blinding Fate for a few seconds before she retreated to the opposite end of the room. When the curtain fell, Thanos was kneeling on the ground, his right hand bleeding, pressed against his chest, and his left one was pressed in the ground, the Power Stone shining from the dissolved shield. The sword was laying on the ground, completely destroyed, the metal distorted and blackened from the explosion.

"I wasn't expecting you to use dirty tactics," Thanos said, standing and raising his left hand directly at Fate, the Lost Logia shining from a charging attack while his hand was closing on a fist. "So you'll not be bothered by my own, will you?"

"_Round Shield!_"

The Lost Logia fired a giant beam of energy that found its target in a span of a second, pushing Fate back and crashing the protective spell almost instantaneously. She threw herself to the side, feeling the moment that the attack destroyed the spell and hit her Jacket, the beam burning part of her white cloak. She had to compose herself quickly when a second beam followed the first, the shot crossing the room and hitting the Defenser spell that Bardiche automatically cast, that was destroyed quicker than the previous, hitting Fate again directly on her Barrier Jacket, the clothing tearing from the strength of the beam. Looking at her opponent, she saw the third attack being charged, and she knew that she had only a second to react.

"Bardiche, _Sonic Drive!_" She knew that this was a dangerous move, as the necessity to be quick would weaken her defense, but at her current speed, she would be overpowered in a few more attacks.

_**Yes, s-**_ Bardiche's response was interrupted by the third beam, that traveled through the room, destroying everything that passed through it, and stroked where Fate was, but missing the target. The _Sonic Drive_ was successfully activated before the hit would strike her, making Fate have the opportunity to dodge the attack in a millisecond. Her Barrier Jacket was more simple in this form, the cape discarded at the ground and her clothing with the appearance of athletic gear. The skirt and stocking disappeared in the transformation and a short appeared in its place, the new clothing was specially designed to give Fate her quickest speed.

Thanos didn't blink an eye, shooting a fourth beam at the blonde, who dodge before it even traveled half the room, and dashed to the Titan, Haken Form returning to Bardiche while she was advancing against the alien. She flew through the room and attacked Thanos with the Scythe, that was easily overpowered by the Lost Logia's beam attack, making her dodging to the side and stand still for a moment, a magical circle surging in her feet, powering her Device.

Thanos raised the Gauntlet to Fate, closing his hand in a fist, the Stone responding with a powerful beam flying in her direction, but was meet with a triple-beam yellow attack in return, _Trident Smasher_ fighting to withstand the Power Stone's attack.

It was then that the impact of the attacks made the energy explode, the following waves making the walls crack and the ceiling start to fall, the already ruined place being destroyed even more.

Thanos, realizing it first, made a quick hand movement, a ball of energy flying from the Power Stone directly at Fate, exploding in the impact. The second movement exploded a hole in the ceiling, giving him time to grab Ebony Maw and jump to the hole, while attacking again the place, covering it on the smoke of the rubble.

Fate, on the other hand, was quickly overpowered by the events. Unprepared by the surprise attack, added with a weakened Barrier Jacket, the woman couldn't do anything to defend herself from the continuous blows against her and the room. The magical circle dissolved at the same time that the ceiling crashed against her, the rubble covering the Enforcer in a second.

Fate could only see the rubble coming in her direction before falling unconscious.


	2. The Emptiness of Space

**A/N: Hello!**

**My first note in this story, so I don't really know how to proceed, but I will try my best. First, I would recommend you all to read the previous chapter, as it has some significant changes in information regarding ages, ranks, and names of some characters, and some grammar corrections to make it more bearable to read, ****in addition to a Glossary for some terms of both series****. I apologize if there is some sort of grammar errors in this chapter; I tried my best to correct most of them, but English isn't my first language, so don't judge me so harshly =P**

**Second, I apologize for the delay of this chapter, I had some personal problems to resolve at the end of the year, and I became ill last week (It wasn't COVID, thank goodness) so it took more time than I planned to write it, but, on the bright side, you all have 7,000+ words to read! UhU!**

**Well, without further ado, if you already read the last chapter (again), here we have the new one:**

* * *

**Chapter Two ― In the Void of Space**

Fate opened her eyes to see a force field protecting her from the remains of the building.

She felt a twinge of pain through her body, blood flowing from a few scratches on her skin, and her vision full of black spots in consequence of the attack. Bardiche was deactivated, back at his Standby Form. Her Barrier Jacket was gone, in its place, she was back at her Enforcer uniform, which was full of rips from the impact against the floor. She tried to stand up but was stopped when a hand made her sit back down, making the blonde look at who she was sharing the shield with, her eyes widened when she was able to recognize Nova Prime's form at her side.

"You…" Her voice was rash and weak, almost unrecognizable. Nova Prime was kneeling at the side of Fate, her eyes analyzing the blonde's situation, and she appeared to not be bothered by the massive shield that was the only thing between them and the rubbles. "What…?"

"Don't talk too much, it will only make your injuries worse." The older woman said, her body showing a posture of someone who was accustomed to a bad situation. "I have to thank you for saving me, there weren't too many people who would enter a fight with Thanos just to save someone that you don't even know."

Fate smiled at the woman. She was glad to be able to save people, as she was once saved herself, so it was good to listen to someone who had their life spared by her actions. It was a wonderful feeling to be doing good without waiting for a reward. Fate was able to understand part of the woman's words, but she knew that, if she wanted to have a _true _conversation, she would have to use Bardiche's Universal Translator. She, slowly and painfully, stood and walked at the Intelligent Device, very aware of the way that Nova Prime flinched from her actions. She took Bardiche in her hands, placing it in the plate in her black glove, smiling when the ID shined and started talking.

_**Systems Online. Mana Input in reasonable conditions, Linker Core status: Stable.**_

"How are you, Bardiche?" She whispered, her voice still cracking with the pain that she was feeling, but more able to talk than before.

_**I'm in working order, sir. Ready for action.**_

"That's good." She turned to the older woman, who was looking at the Yellow Triangle with a strange gleam in her eyes. "I'm sorry for my actions before, but I need my device to make you understand my language in its entirety."

"It's alright." Nova Prime said, standing from her position. "I just want to thank you for saving my life. There are not many people who would do this for a stranger."

"That's my job." Was all she said, while she looked at the strange shield protecting them. "How did you activated this forcefield? My analysis of you stated that your Linker Core is dormant."

Nova Prime inclined her head in confusion at the strange term used by Fate but was able to answer her question nonetheless.

"This is a special device," she pointed at an egg-shaped metal device that was floating at the center of the terrain protected by the shield. Fate recognized it for what Nova was holding when she first encountered her. "It is an offensive and defensive object that can explode or create a shield, I was planning on exploding Thanos when he was close enough before you arrived, but, to be perfectly honest, I don't think I would be able to injure him if your fight with him was something to look at."

Fate nodded at her, before smiling.

"I have to thank you for saving me. If you haven't utilized your device…" she stopped in the middle of the phrase, looking at the ground. Fate knew exactly what would happen if she wasn't saved. "Thank you."

Nova Prime smiled, "You are welcome."

_**Sir, a transmission is coming, it's for you. **_Fate looked at the device, frowning a little before looking around. By the looks of it, she was trapped within the forcefield, deep underground, and surrounded by rubble. It wasn't a situation that Fate liked to be in, but she knew that it was useless to do anything now without knowing what expected her outside; for all she knew, Thanos would be waiting her escape to end what he started. But the message was a good sign, the only one who knew how to contact her by Bardiche are TSAB personnel, with meant that the ones trying to contact her could only be the _Asteria _crew.

"You can play it, Bardiche." In response, the device glowed for a full seconds before a mechanized voice came from the ID.

"_...to Enforcer Harlaown. D. C. Asteria to Enforcer Harlaown, anybody copy?" _A voice of one of the ship's crewmen was sent from the Device, its sound foreigner to the blonde, who was accustomed to Bardiche's unique voice.

"It's Enforcer Harlaown here, I roger that."

"_Oh, thank god, we're already thinking the worst." _Testarossa frowned at the admission, for how much time was she unconscious? Suddenly, the voice that was coming out of the Intelligent Device changed to one that the Artificial Mage recognized. "_Fate? It's Garnier here, are you okay?"_

"Yes, captain. I'm okay, I'm a little sore for my battle against the holder of Lost Logia, but…"

"_It's good to hear your voice, Enforcer. We are looking for you ever since the enemy fleet flew from the planet, over."_

"How much time passed ever since I arrived here, Garnier?" Fate asked, frowning at the prospect of being out of commission for to much time. If she had to be unconscious for too much time, then Thanos could…

"_Two hours, Fate. We arrived at the planet at least forty-five minutes after you and we managed to hold ground against part of the army that was been kept here to exterminate the civilian population."_ Fate stopped in tracks before she said something by the sight of Nova Prime sudden run at her, extremely preoccupied, by the looks in her facial expression.

"What happened to the Nova Corps? The ones that were fighting against Thanos' forces?"

"_Who are you and why you're in a restrict transmission?"_

"She's Nova Prime, Garnier." Was Fate's response at the realization that, is she didn't interfere, something bad could enroll from the confrontation. "She has authority over this planet, is the leader of the defensive forces in here and saved my life, she's at the moment trapped with me in the ruins of my battle against Thanos, the individual responsible for the thief of a Lost Logia that was being protected by this planet. And I think that it could be good for me to receive a quick review of what happened when I was out of commission, over."

She was received from silence at the other side of the line, and she saw Nova Prime tensing at the wait for the answers that she was looking for.

"_The defending forces were able to destroy a grand part of the enemy army, but I'm afraid to say that the Corps was completely massacred in the battle. We have only been able to rescue less than a quarter of the original fleet, over."_

The news made Nova Prime nod with a blank expression. Fate felt a bit of pity for the woman, it was evident that the Corps was her life, and to have it so quickly destroyed would be heartbreaking to even the strongest of men. It was apparent that this battle would be forever marked in its planet history if they wanted it or not, and if she was right, the number of deaths would be irreversible.

"Can you transport us out of here? We're trapped in the middle of a giant quantity of rubble."

"_Unfortunately, our secondaries systems are offline temporarily, Harlaown. You'll need to use your own reserves to take you two out of there."_

"What happened?" Was Fate's worried question after the statement, her eyebrows frowning at the information.

"_We were hit by a Class AAA magical attack that was sent from the invader's mothership, our sensors detected that the energy corresponded to the Lost Logia that the individual who you called Thanos obtained. We are unable to use any secondary systems for a while; I requested the crew to bring the sensors back online so we can track the ship for when the propulsion system starts functioning again. Over."_

Fate sighed and looked at her companion, who was kneeled at the device which maintained their shield, knowing that she had a lot in her mind to think about. It was clear that the destruction of the corporation on the planet would cause chaos not only in Xandar but also in its allies. The Bureau would have a lot of work to do once that ordeal was over.

"Understood. I will use the _Transfer _Spell. Be prepared to follow our enemy's trail when I go onboard, do you copy?"

"Yes, ma'am." The voice had a little sarcasm in it but it was clear that he respected Fate nonetheless. "We are waiting for you. Over." A bip followed Garnier's phrase, signing the end of the transmission, and, after a deep sigh, Fate quickly activated her Barrier Jacket and Bardiche, making a magical rune appear at her feet.

"What you're doing?" Nova Prime was now standing again, near the shield generator and looking at Fate with curiosity and a bit of fear, probably because of what the blonde was able to do against Thanos.

"I'm preparing a teleportation spell; it will send us off here to my ship, which must be in the orbit of the planet." Fate explained, the rune still circling and glowing at her feet. "It will only take a moment to prepare it, and then I'll need you to be inside the area of the circle so I can be able to transfer you with me."

Nova Prime looked at the blonde for a moment before nodding and walking inside the circle, which started to grow and shine more and more. Fate closed her eyes, gave a deep breath, and activated the _Transfer _spell, illuminating the proximities with a bright yellow light, in a blink of an eye, and, when it subdued, the place was empty.

* * *

Thor wasn't expecting another battle after losing his eye in the last one.

But it seemed that whatever was the plan of the destiny, it wasn't satisfied with the Ragnarok. The approaching of Thanos' Mothership was a sight that made his people enter a state of immediate panic at the thought of the imminent attack from the Titan. The shouts and desperate cries were followed closely for a series of quick shots from _Sanctuary II _that made the ship lurch from the impact, being quickly followed by a red light alerting the ones inside the ship of the danger they were in. Thor and Loki ran from the room they were into the center of the ship at the same time that another shot hit the cargo ship. In the run for the bridge, the brothers saw part of the wall exploding from the continuous attacks, the ship suffering another lurch from the impacts. A few seconds later, both arrived at the bridge of the ship, seeing from the window the enormous mothership firing at them.

"What's the status?!" Was Thor's first question as soon as he arrived, his stomach twirling at the sight of the Mad Titan's force.

"Our weapons are down, the propulsors have been destroyed and the shields are failing. We're an easy target!" One of the Asgardians said as the panel that he was accessing exploding right after his speech. "All secondary systems are offline."

Thor looked at the ship, seeing the shots being rapidly fired at a rate that was made clear that they wouldn't survive if it continued.

"Send a distress call and prepare to evacuate the ship; women, and children being our maximum priority." The Asgardian stopped for a moment before nodding and running to another panel.

The god of thunder looked at his brother, seeing the distress in his face, and knew that whatever Thanos was planning, it wouldn't be pleasant for his people. The Mad Titan's fame preceded himself, and if Thanos was the one responsible for the Battle of New York… He couldn't flee this confrontation. His eyes circled the room, seeing his people going to Heimdall who was using the Bifrost as a way to evacuate the population, but the panic around the ship was still present, clearly show by the way that some of the civilians were entering the escape pods. Another lurch followed the entrance of Valkyrie in the room, running to where the brothers were standing.

"Who's attacking?" Valkyrie asked the moment she was near the sons of Odin.

"Thanos," Loki said. "He seems to have decided to end what Hela started… and it seems like we don't have any choice but to run away."

Valkyrie tensed at the idea and looked at the giant ship that was still attacking them, its weapons shining before the energy impacted against the hull of their spaceship.

"Why we aren't fighting back?" Valkyrie questioned at the same time that the ship suffered another giant lurch.

"We don't have weapons, our engines were one of the first things destroyed by the first attack, and even if we still had it, Thanos' ship is faster than our own. Heimdall is using the Bifrost to evacuate part of the people to Earth, and the ones who can't come to him are using the escape pods. But it is only a matter of time before he can destroy our shields and start boarding the ship." Thor said, his body tense from the situation. "And… I have a favor to ask you, that you may not like."

"What was is it?" The woman asked, her instincts not liking the way that the god of thunder was hesitating to tell it.

"I need you to go to Earth with the rest of the civilians."

"What?! No! I will not run away from a fight again! Not after what happened last time!" Valkyrie exploded, charging against the blonde man, anger boiling in her body. Before she could go to him, the ship suddenly suffered another lurch, that was quickly followed by explosions from the panels across the room placing it on fire and killing some of the Asgardians that were near it. The lurch was quickly followed by another explosion as the rear part of the room was devastated by another attack.

"Your Majesty! We lost our shields, and half the ship is destroyed! Life support is failing rapidly, and we're being boarded!" Thor tensed and grabbed Valkyrie, making the still-shocked woman look at him, seeing the despair in the Asgardian's blue eyes.

"Look, Valkyrie, I know what this may seem to you after everything that Hela put you through, but I need someone of my trust in Earth to help my people, no, _our people, _and protect them. I couldn't trust anyone else other than you. So, _please, _for once accept your place as part of the Valkyries and do your job to protect Asgard!"

She stared at his eyes for a few seconds, feeling the anger still boiling in her veins, but knowing, deep inside, that if she stayed she would die. Against her desires, she nodded and ran to Heimdall, who quickly summoned the magical bridge from his sword, the warrior closing her eyes at the feeling of the Bifrost Bridge opening around her and transporting her away from the only ones who cared for her in years.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Loki questioned him.

"It has to be, brother." Was Thor only response, before looking at the sight of a beam of light appearing at the center of the room, the Black Order and its leader appearing around the corpses of the Asgardians civilians. "Prepare yourself, brother, because our foe is here."

Before the brothers could do anything, they were blinded by a bright purple light before a wave of energy washed through what remained of the ship, throwing the Asgardians still standing in different directions, killing those unprepared and knocking out others. Loki disappeared moments after the attack passed, his tricks working even after everything that he passed through. Heimdall stood up and intercepted three of the Black Order's members in the middle of the room, both hands gripping his sword, standing ground even at a disadvantaged. Thor, standing from the impact that destroyed the room, jumped against the intruders, not thinking twice to stop his enemy. Thanos was the one who blocked the god of thunder's attack, his gauntlet closing in a fist before a beam of energy came from the Infinity Stone, hitting the Avenger in middle air. The impact against the god was massive. An explosion followed the impact, making Thor fly to the opposite side of the room, dropping in the ground, while feeling how the Power Stone drained him from his powers, the impact and beam injuring him while the wave washed his power away. He felt his energy returning as he stood up, entering a defensive position while his thoughts started to wonder.

He knew that the Nova should have fallen if their infinity stone was in the Titan's hand. Which meant that Thanos was going after the Space Stone.

_But what Thanos is doing here if the Tesseract was in Asgard when it was destroyed? _Before he could complete his thoughts, another beam coming from the Power Stone sliced through the air, giving him a little more than a second to avoid the powerful attack, jumping to the side, while his body started to crack when the electricity returned, weaker than before, making him glow in bright blue light from the lightning that originated from himself. Thor stood up, the electricity warming his skin before he screamed and jumped in the Titan's direction. Ebony was quicker to attack the Asgardian, using his telekinesis to use the rubble as projectiles. Unbothered by the obstacle, the god of thunder used his powers to destroys the rubble in midair while advancing directly against Thanos. In the millisecond before crashing in the Titan, he could see Heimdall fighting the other members of the Black Order, the Asgardian rapidly losing ground, and then he punched his adversary, returning his focus at the armored villain. The punch was ineffective, as Thanos caught his fist with his open hand, before throwing him again to the other side of the room, the throw being rapidly followed by another powerful wave of energy from the Power Stone, that struck him right in his chest, making him feel like his entire being was drained of power, the electricity disappearing and being sealed inside him.

Thor tried to stand up, his eyes glued to his enemies, but the hope that was trying to grow was quickly destroyed as he saw Heimdal, his best friend, losing his battle, being impaled to the ground by his own sword. He saw, powerless, as Loki was found and dragged to the center of the room. He listened as Ebony Maw, and Thanos gave their monologues, he felt the pain as Thanos tortured him, and felt betrayed as Loki showed the Tesseract to the Mad Titan. He felt as a spark of hope was extinguished when the Hulk was defeated by Thanos, and the Mad Titan obtained the Space Stone to himself. And, worse of all, he felt tears as his best friend and brother were killed in front of his own eyes, one by his own weapon, the other by being suffocated to death, and he could do nothing to save them. He was left alone, Thanos and the Black Order being teleported away by the Titan, as his ship was destroyed around him, the body of his people in the floor around him and the corpse of his brother in his arms, and he never felt as desperate as in this moment.

The last thing he thought as the explosions knock him out was a cry for revenge.

_You will pay for this, Thanos._

* * *

The following hours passed in a heartbeat to Fate.

She wasn't able to ignore the feeling of unease as the thought of Thanos' plan continued to run through her mind, making her restless and feeling something that she didn't felt for a long time; hatred. She hated the thought of losing half of her friends to the hands of a lunatic, the feeling of powerlessness that passed through her when she was being buried by the crushing building above her, and, above all, she hated everything about this situation and how, without any warning, Fate was again thrust into a full-scale Incident.

In the time after her rescue to the beginning of the pursuit of Thanos' ship, named _Sanctuary II,_ Fate was able to thank Nova Prime before her return to Xandar, make a quick revision on Bardiche and sent a long-range alert to all TSAB's ships in the quadrant about the danger that was the Mad Titan. When the _Asteria _finally started its pursuit of the _Sanctuary II,_ the blonde had gone over everything that Xandar had of the Infinity Stones and Thanos, trying her best to understand how these Lost Logia worked and the abilities of the Mad Titan. It was interesting what the Nova Corps' Database had about these two subjects; according to it, Thanos wasn't a new threat, his records going as far as a hundred years ago, and in all of the instances of his appearances he committed the same crimes over and over again: the invasion of a peaceful world, destruction of all its technologies and, the most atrocious of all, the massacre of half the population of the planet. He was the last living being of the planet known as Titan, a world that was as advanced as Xandar in terms of technology, that had all its species exterminated because of a war that was fought after the resources of the world were extinguished; basically, they all died because of starvation. In the records, Thanos seemed to be obsessed with the idea of annihilating half the lives of all living creatures, and, to obtain his success, he was going after the Infinity Stones. The information on the Lost Logias was much more scarce than of the Titan. There were six Infinity Stones: Power, Reality, Time, Space, Mind, and Soul; each one being able to control one of the fundamental forces of the Universe, and, if brought together, could change the very fabric of the Existence. Fate couldn't stop herself from shaking at the thought of what Thanos would do if he had in his hands the six.

"Are you okay, Harlaown?" Harley asked the blonde, taking her away from her head.

"Yes, just… thinking about this Incident. I'm having a bad feeling, that's all." Was the whispered response of the artificial mage, that was looking at the strange reading from the terminal.

"Wanna talk about it?" Harley said, surprising the Enforcer, who looked at the redheaded, taking a few seconds before answering. It was strange the way that the second-in-command was acting comparatively to before they arrived at Xandar, but Fate supposed that she only had a change of heart.

"I would like it." She said, opening a space for Harley to push a nearby chair and sit next to her. Doing exactly that, the redheaded stayed silent, sighing from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry for my attitude. I lashed out to you for no explicable reason, I was angry at you just because of your profession and I was disrespectful for your person even though you did nothing wrong." Harley said with her eyes down, shame visible in her posture, the apology much more real with the way she was acting. Fate, never one to deny kindness, only smiled and placed her hand in the redheaded's shoulder.

"Everyone makes mistakes. It would be hypocritical of me to not give you a second chance over this when I myself had done things that are much worse to those that I love the most." Harley hesitantly looked at the Enforcer, who had a small smile on her face that calmed her, principally because of the red eyes that shined without any type of emotion other than patience and kindness. "So I forgive you."

Harley let the tension on her body go with the blonde's words, the word 'thanks' exiting her lips automatically in response. Fate only nodded and returned her attention to the station at her face, frowning at something she read in it.

"What is it?" Harley questioned the moment she saw the Harlaown's actions.

"There's a strange subspace signal that the ship is receiving, I thought that it would have disappeared by now." Fate wondered, her eyes frowned in a thinking manner. Curious, Harley looked at the station and analyzed the signal that the Enforcer was talking about, her expression mirroring the blonde after reading it.

"It seems like some sort of transmission of audio. But it doesn't any make sense!" Harley said, biting her lip.

"Why not?" Fate questioned, staring at the redheaded, who looked at Fate for a second before answering.

"All communication systems in any TSAB ship uses magical enhancement to make cruisers in the Dimensional Sea be able to receive it with the least amount of interference possible. It doesn't make sense that a registered ship wouldn't use it!"

"You said that Bureau's ships use enhancement, right? What if it isn't a TSAB ship?" Fate suggested, the words slipping before she could properly think about them, but the response was more than she expected when Harley facepalmed.

"Of course! The Nova Corps didn't use magic in their ships so other ships of this sector wouldn't use it either! Now all I have to do is modify the systems to compensate for the Dimensional difference…"

While Harley worked on the systems, Fate got up and went to Captain Garnier, making him aware of what she found out and what his first officer was doing. There was a bit of conversation between them both before Harley shouted in a triumphant note a loud "Yeah!", which made everyone in the bridge to look at her, who blushed and hid in her hair, the silence that followed was extremely uncomfortable for everyone in the room, which only seemed to make Harley even more embarrassed. Fate hid her laugh in her hand before deciding to end the woman's misery.

"What's the status of the transmission, Lieutenant?" Fate said with a professional tone that made the members of the crew return to their positions and made Harley smile in gratitude at the blonde, who only nodded at the redheaded.

"I was able to clear a huge portion of its interference, but the audio is still sloppy and fragmented, so I can't promise the best of qualities in the massage."

"Can you pass it on the speakers, Lieutenant Ross?" Garnier questioned, his attention grabbed by the curiosity of the content of the massage. Other crew members stopped some of their work to listen to it.

"Yes, Sir," Harley responded in a firm tone, "broadcasting it in three, two, one…"

There was silence before static started playing on the speakers, the annoying sound unbearable before some words began to emerge from the incomprehensive noise, the male voice becoming more comprehensive as the audio passed on.

"_-the Asgard Refugee vess- I repeat, we're under assault- families, we have very few soldiers- not warcraft! I repeat this is not a war-"_

The sound suddenly stopped, the static becoming in a second a high-pitched noise that almost deafened the listeners if not for Harley quickly reflexes that cut off the speakers.

"What happened to the transmission?" The captain questioned after the uncomfortable sound subdued from his ears.

"I had to cut off. It seems like the loop of the message was broken. If the message is correct, the ship could probably have been destroyed." Harley responded.

"Can our sensors detect the origin of the transmission?"

"Yes, sir." One of the other crew members said, his position at the sensors allay, the pause before details were given filling the rest of the crew with dread. "The distress signal came from the quadrant 4D in our transdimensional sensors; according to them, the sector is filled with residual radiation from weapon shots and we have some readings that correspond with the Lost Logia's signature. It seems Thanos passed through it."

"This doesn't sound good." Fate said, a frown in her face, the thoughts of anyone attacking a civilian vessel disgusting her. "What's the status of the _Sanctuary II_?"

"Our sensors still can't grasp the ship's hull signature, so we're following their thrusters' trail. The ship passed through the distress signal original location and seemed to have stopped there for a few minutes before following their previous path. We detected some AAA class discharges in the region; there seems to have been a discharge of the Lost Logia on the battle, but the cause of the destruction seems to have been amplified by another font."

This made Fate tense. There wasn't a motive for Thanos to stop to destroy a civilian ship unless it carried something that he looking for ― and what he wanted, if Fate's encounter of him and the report of Nova Prime was something to be carried upon, was the Infinity Stones. If Thanos was strong enough to almost kill Fate with just one of the Stones, how strong would he be with two or even more? She trembled only thinking about it.

"Something else to add?" Garnier questioned, his face frowned, the thoughts on his head probably following the same thread as the blonde enforcer.

"We're receiving some impossible reading on the wreckages of the ship."

"What type of reading?" Fate asked, her attention picked yet again, the thought of anything that would help them against the Titan more than welcome.

"A life-sign, sir. It's very strong even though we're not detecting any type of magical or physical protection around it. It seems that, if this is correct, we have a survivor."

"It's possible," Harley said, her fingers tapping against the table. "But there isn't a way to see if there is a survivor without stopping the ship, and if we do it again we might lose the ship's trail and any chance we could have to reach it."

"Unless we send the _Vanguard_." Fate responded, her voice echoing in the room. "With me in it."

"Oh no, you won't!" Garnier said, standing up, his face frowned. "I will not let you go alone on a recognition mission without support on a highly unstable prototype of a ship!"

"This survivor could have information that we don't have, Captain! They were attacked by Thanos and survived an explosion of a ship by a _Lost Logia! _They can have a way of neutralizing him or even helping us with it! It is worth the risk!" Fate exploded, the loud and harsh words almost alien to those inside the bridge.

"It wasn't properly tested, Fate! The ship could malfunction at any minute, you would be strained in the middle of space with no way of returning to the _Asteria _and could even _die _without the basic resources! I'm not risking your life on something so reckless, and this time you can't convince me for you to do it!" Garnier responded in fashion, his eyes hard with determination. Fate stared back, her red eyes sparkling with a lot of repressed anger.

"Fate is right, Captain." Surprising the captain, Harley said, standing up as well. "We don't have as much information as preferable about Thanos. He's an unknown and unpredictable criminal that the Bureau does not have any knowledge of. We need to have as many advantages as possible, and Fate would be much more valuable outside of the ship."

Garnier stared at the women in front of him, his face trapped in a frown for a few seconds before sighing, dropping back on the chair, his hand pressed against his face before he looked up to them with a tiresome expression. He knew that trying to fight for this would be useless; Fate had as much authority in the ship as him and had the best chances in the case of a real battle. The maximum that the _Asteria _could do was stop the Titan's mothership, and if the reports of the Nova Corps were correct, Thanos very rarely stayed on the ship on his conquests, so if they could have a chance, it would be if they could expand their options and obtaining some allies wasn't unwelcome.

"Fine. Just… take care of yourself, Fate, ok? I don't want to return to Mid-Childa to bring Instructor Takamachi a KIA report." The captain said, his voice filled with concern. Fate's expression softened at his words and a seriousness appeared on her next words, making the captain worries dissipate.

"Understood, Captain. I will do my best and I'll bring Thanos to justice. _I promise_."

* * *

The _Vanguard _was a new addition to the Bureau's Naval fleet.

It was a prototype that was in only a few of the newest dimensional cruisers and its purpose was to be an expendable ship which could be used on secondary missions; in which an expendable or agile ship would be more suitable than the expensive and gigantic cruisers that the majority of the Bureau's fleet consisted of. The _Vanguard _was the only ship of the Navy incapable of entering the Dimensional Sea, as the ability to do so would need a complex crew or a powerful drive, both incapable of being implemented on a ship which was as small and practical as possible. The small ship was optimized for stealth and escort missions, so it was perfect for Fate's particular expedition; at least, it was what the blonde hoped for.

"Are you sure about it, Harlaown?" Harley asked a frown on her face, and a voice filled with worry. Fate gave her a small smile while she waited for the engineers to finish their last-minute reparations and preparations to the ship. The blonde was in her Enforcer uniform, the black contrasting against her yellow hair, one of her hands bandaged while the other was using her black glove with Bardiche stitched into it. The ship that was in front of her had the form of an arrowhead, its controls inside the middle area of it, the front section made with transparent aluminum allowing its pilot to see the outside without the need of outer cameras.

"It's our best option, Harley." Fate said, nodding when the mechanics gave her a confirmation of the end of the repairs. "Thanos has one if not more of these Lost Logias; if the information on the Xandar's archives is something to go by, these 'Infinity Stones' have the potential to be stronger than the Book of Darkness. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he does something terrible with this power and I didn't do my best to stop him."

The Lieutenant stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at the blonde, the words said repeating in her head for a good time before she said what was hammering in her mind.

"You are the type of person who would die to save others, aren't you?"

Fate answered the question with silence, something that caught the redheaded's attention, which made her only smile with the quiet confirmation.

"Good luck, Fate Harlaown. I'm happy to have met you." Harley said, turning around and walking to the exit of the hangar. The blonde stared at the ship for a few seconds before turning around and running to the retreating lieutenant, her eyes shining with a glint that wasn't there before. She caught up to her and made the second-in-command notice the blonde, the Lieutenant stopping in her tracks and looking at the Enforcer, curious at the interruption.

"Harley, can I make you promise something for me?"

Nanoha was supposed to be on vacation.

It wasn't something that Nanoha did a lot – all of her friends always said that she was a workaholic – so when she was in one, she tried to enjoy it as much as possible. She didn't know that she was in one until Hayate, her sneaky best friend that was one step away from a very deserved payback, made sure that all her classes for the next two months were postponed and that Vivio's school was in vacation for the end of the term, then it was only necessary a comment about how Hayate had two tickets for a deluxe cruise that so happened to pass through Earth's quadrant, convince Vivio to visit her grandparents, making Nanoha have no choice but to go out on vacation back home. It was infuriating how good the Yagami was with her schemes and plans; but with the owner of the Tome of The Night Sky being a Major that specialized in being the best leader possible, Nanoha thought that she should already be accustomed as to how elaborate her friend's schemes could be.

It was her third week of vacation - the first one was inside the cruise that traveled her to an Administered World near Earth in which she and Vivio used Dimensional Transfer to go to Uminari City; her parents always said to her that she, Fate and Vivio would always have a place to call home in their house. The other two weeks passed by in a flash, having to introduce Vivio to her parents and siblings, reacting the old days before the encounter that changed her life by visiting Arisa and Suzuka and working a bit on Midori-ya, the coffee shop that her family was the owner of.

Because of her job at Mid Childa, Nanoha wasn't able to be up to date with Earth's news, so it was a surprise when Raising Heart started flashing in a bright red color, beeping loudly in the middle of the night, the signal of an emergency in the proximity. The auburn-haired mage woke up in a frenzy, her eyes looking at the Intelligent Device the moment she understood what was happening. She jumped from her bed and took the red gem from the desk in the corner of her bedroom, the touch of its master deactivating the alarm. Raising Heart blinked a few times before Nanoha placed it in her neck, a pink hologram of the planet appearing from the ID in front of the brunette, two big points blinking in a dark color at two different parts of the map making the mage frown at the implications.

"Mama?" Vivio's voice made Nanoha look behind her, her daughter rubbing her heterochromatic eyes at the edge of the only bed in the room with her pajamas of bunnies accentuating, even more, the innocence of the little blonde, and forget about the emergency for a moment to kneel in front of her daughter, smiling at the seven-year-old with a soft expression.

"Hey, Vivio. It seems like there's a problem that Mama has to solve. Can you be a good girl and wait here while I'm resolving this?" She said softly, listening to some sort of commotion outside of her room, her parents having heard Raising Heart's alarm.

"No! I want to go with Mama!" Was Vivio's response, the girl jumping into Nanoha's arms, at the same time that the bedroom's door opened to the sight of the older Takamachis looking to their daughter embracing their shaking granddaughter.

"Vivio?" Nanoha questioned the little girl when she started to cry on her arms, her body trembling while the tears started to flow from her mismatched eyes.

"Nanoha? Vivio? Are you okay?" Her father questioned, kneeling at the brunette's side, looking at the sight of his granddaughter trembling with anguish in the arms of his daughter, who was looking at him with confusion.

"I am okay, dad, it's just that Raising Heart detected the entrance of unknown vessels in the atmosphere and as I'm the only active personnel of the Bureau on the planet, I have to determine what their intention in Earth is. I was informing Vivio about it when she jumped on me and started to cry!" Nanoha looked at her parents with a face of confusion while her hands are comforting the little blonde on her arms.

"Nanoha, dear, remember what you told us about Vivio?" Momoko Takamachi said, the words making Nanoha remember what she told her parents of the situation behind Vivio's adoption: how she was doubtful that she could be a good mother to the clone, how the little girl was kidnapped while she was in a mission and forced to fight her mother figure by Quattro's manipulation.

Her parents had questioned why Vivio was so glued to the brunette's side the whole first week on the vacation, she said that the girl was still afraid that if Nanoha would leave her side, she could be kidnapped again, or something even worse could happen while her mother was away, the situation only got better when Vivio started to warm up to her grandparents, but even then it was only with Nanoha presence nearby. The mage supposed that the reason why the girl was so emotional was that it had reminded her of the last time that the mage had left Vivio while she was working, making her afraid to be separated from her mother again. Knowing that she had to approach the situation in the best and mindful way possible, the mother sat down in a much more comfortable position, turning her daughter on her lap, adjusting the girl's posture to better talk to her.

"Hey, my little bunny, it's okay. Nothing will happen to you while I'm with you." Nanoha whispered to the still crying child, that was shaking her head against her mother's chest.

"I don't wanna be away from Mama," Vivio responded, the girl clutching tight Nanoha's pajamas, her body trembling with some sort of anxiousness. Nanoha just smiled kindly at the girl while getting up, embracing the girl against herself, and looking at her parents with an expression that was screaming to them for help.

"It's just a Recon Mission, right?" Shiro Takamachi questioned, his daughter nodding at him, adjusting Vivio in her arms to make her look at her grandfather, who smiled at the mismatched eyes that were red from the tears that were still falling, but much rarely, thankfully. "So, I don't think that it would be a problem to let Vivio go with you for it, and if it becomes dangerous you can protect her, right?"

Nanoha sighed when she saw the way that Vivio turned in her arms, looking at her with her heterochromatic eyes that reminded her so much of the other important blonde in her life, and seeing the hope and plead on it, she knew that she couldn't deny her daughter this time.

"Okay, Vivio, you can go with me, but you will have to listen to everything that I say to you and will run away immediately if anything goes wrong, okay?" She said, looking at the girl nodding, the red in her eyes made her stomach twist in guilt before she sighed and put the girl on the ground and turned to the hologram of the map, the approaching OVNIs now inside the atmosphere of the planet, their trail stopping in both New York, and Scotland.

Whatever it was, it wasn't there for her or some know Lost Logia, as it would come for Japan: the country was the epicenter for two Incidents in less than a year. Because of that, the land still had some residual magical energy from the activation of the Jewels Seeds and the destruction of the Defense Program of the Book of Darkness, so it wasn't any magical criminal that was looking for those Lost Logias, nor was some TSAB personnel because they would send a message that Raising Heart would pick on. Regardless, Nanoha knew that she was the only Bureau member of the planet that was capable of analyzing the situation; Gil Graham was still on Earth, but he was retired and was prohibited from entering any confrontation on the Bureau's behalf because of his crimes in the Book of Darkness Incident, and, even if he would intercept, he didn't have the means to detect the entrance of the ship until it was too late. She was the only one who could properly analyze the situation and do something about it, even if Vivio complicated things a little.

Now, the question was to what OVNI intercept as they were going to two different places, which could only indicate that they had some sort of planning before entering the atmosphere, a thing that wasn't very much reassuring, as it would mean that they had some sort of mission on the planet, which wasn't something that ever ended in rainbows, but she refused to go down that route of thought, as it would mean that she was leading her daughter into danger or it would permanently damage future interactions to the aliens if their intention was peaceful. She had to intercept one of the ships, and she supposed that if she intercepted it on a city as full as New York, it would cause some serious problems with the government or cause panic on the population and, considering the time, it still had daylight on the other side of the world. And, to what little she caught on conversations at the Cafe, there was some sort of American special team that was created to detain invading forces in the time that she was off-world (she supposed that the Incidents of eleven years ago weren't as secretive as the Bureau otherwise thought), so the best place to have the meeting would be at the other ship, that who was approaching Scotland.

"Mom, can you change Vivio into some warm clothes? We're going to Scotland." Momoko nodded, taking the girl in her lap and starting to look for some clothes for the girl, while Nanoha did the same, taking her SAFA uniform and transforming Raising Heart onto its staff form, the soothing voice of her partner (_**Stand by ready, my Master**_) lifting some of the worries from her body.

In less than five minutes, she was inside a _Transporter _circle, hand in hand with her daughter, and eyes closed in concentration to successfully teleport them to the other side of the world. and, while the pink glow encapsulated them both, completing the spell usage and transferring them to their destination, Nanoha couldn't shake off the gut feeling that was passing through her body.

_Something bad is going to happen._

* * *

**A/N: Well, that was a pretty turbulent chapter. Some things to add before I post the glossary for the terms used in the chapter; from this point on, the story will be basically Infinity War but with Nanoha + Fate placed in the middle of the confrontation, so if some parts of the movie were passed over or undermentioned, is because you already watched the movie and fanfic isn't the place to know the story of it. Anyway, I have some pretty good idea of the path I want to take this story and its continuation, so I'm working towards it.**

**Glossary:**

**-Sanctuary II: Thanos' ship, the name is taken from the MCU Wiki**

**-Linker Core: The font of magic on the Nanohaverse, is an organ made of mana that every being has**

**-Tesseract: The recipient of the Space Stone, it ended up on Asgard at the end of Avengers before being stolen by Loki in Thor: Ragnarok**

**-SAFA: Supreme Air Force "Aggressor", is an elite subdivision of the TSAB's training instructors under the Air Armaments Service. Nanoha is part of it by the time of StrikerS**


End file.
